She looked both ways, in case Mathew somehow managed to follow her, and then sprinted across the street to the waiting cab and jumped in. "The airport," she told the driver.
"No luggage?"
"Just a sudden urge to fly away." She put another forty dollars on the front seat and then relaxed enough to let her frayed nerves calm. She had just enough time to catch the redeye to New York.
*
With Carl not far away, Mathew tried to talk to Laura again. She stood near the buffet with the birth certificate in one hand and a drink in the other, swaying to the music while she continued to look for Austin. "I want to talk to you," he tried.
"Feel all that money slipping away?" she asked without looking at him.
"Not everything is about money."
"Darling, I am so shocked to hear you say that."
He noticed a nearby couple, who seemed a little too interested in their conversation, and took hold of her arm. "Lower your voice."
She looked down at his grasp and glared at him. "Let go of me, Mathew, or I'll scream."
Slowly he released her, but before he stepped aside, he tried to take the birth certificate out her hand. She abruptly put her hand behind her back. "You'll regret this, Laura."
"Not as much as you will," she said, slipping into the crowd.
Not willing to give up so easily, Mathew was right behind her when Laura finally spotted Austin. She waved the birth certificate in the air, skirted around the dancers and headed toward the group of people he was with. She didn't think it odd that all of them were watching her too.
"Laura," Austin said, as soon as she was close enough to hear him over the music. "I want you to meet someone. This is…"
"Hello, dear," Laura said, glancing at the girl beside him. "Austin, don't ask me how I got it, but I have my daughter's birth certificate finally. Take it, will you?"
"It is a fake," Mathew grumbled.
Laura ignored her husband. "I am listed as the mother and now you can prove Georgia truly exists."
As Austin stuffed the birth certificate inside his jacket pocket, he started to speak again, but Georgia put her hand on his arm. "You don't know where your daughter is?"
"No, dear. Mathew wouldn't tell me." Laura turned her attention back to Austin. "Please do everything you can to find her. All I want is to hold my baby in my arms, just once."
"You've lost your mind, Laura. She is dead and you know it," Mathew growled.